Tractor mounted hydraulic posthole digger

ABSTRACT

An attachment selectively mountable on different loader heads of farm and construction equipment and including a readily detachable hydraulic motor for actuation by the central hydraulic system of the loader whereby the same hydraulic motor may be utilized to power other attachments. The attachment includes a cradle for supporting a motorized auger in pendulum-like fashion so that true vertical disposition of the auger may be obtained. When the motor is energized and the supporting portion of the loader is lowered relative to the ground with which the auger is engaged, a substantially true vertical hole is bored in the ground. Further, the hydraulic motor is reversible whereby after a hole has been bored removal of the auger is facilitated.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,789,931 Quinn Feb. 5, 1974 1 TRACTORMOUNTED HYDRAULIC 3,044,562 7/1962 Crampton 173/27 x POSTHOLE DIGGER[76] Inventor: Gerald L. Quinn, Rt. 7, Burwell, Pnma'y -W Schroeder Netm68823 Attorney, Agent, or Fzrm-Clarence A. O'Brien; Harvey B. Jacobson[22] Filed: Jan. 26, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 220,862 57 ABSTRACT RelatedApplicafion Data An attachment selectively mountable on differentContinuatiml4mm"t of Sen g- 3, loader heads of farm and constructionequipment and 1970, abandoned including a readily detachable hydraulicmotor for actuation by the central hydraulic system of the loader U.S.Clwhereby the ame hydraulic motor may be utilized to ower other attahments The attachment includes a Field of Search 173/22, 251-26, 27, 23,cradle for supporting a motorized auger in pendulum- 173/29 like fashionso that true vertical disposition of the auger may be obtained. When themotor is energized [56] References Cited and the supporting portion ofthe loader is lowered UNITED STATES PATENTS relative to the ground withwhich the auger is en 3,165,157 l/1965 Carbert .l 173/28 gaged, aSubstantially true vertical hole is bored in the 2,410,508 11/1946 Lamme173/26 x g Further, the hydraulic motor is reversible 2,526,984 10/1950Weishaar 173/26 whereby after a hole has been bored removal of the2,812,162 11/1957 Lay 173/27 X auger is facilitated. 2,844,006 7/1958Lutz et a] 173/27 X 2,856,156 10/1958 Young 173/26 4 Claims, 9 DrawingFigures PAIENIED 51974 SHEUIUFZ 5i p g/27 TRACTOR MOUNTED HYDRAULICPOSTHOLE DIGGER This application comprises a continuation-in-part of myco-pending U. S. application Ser. No. 60,577, filed Aug. 3, 1970, nowabandoned.

At present, farms and construction projects make wide use ofconventional vehicles known as loaders. Essentially, a loader comprisesa vehicle including a chassis having hydraulic cylinders extendingoutwardly therefrom for attachment to a lift member supported therebyand extension and retraction of the cylinders functions to raise andlower the lift member. Various attachments are available for removablesecurement to the lift member and such attachments include directbuckets, grapple forks, hay baskets, etc. However, at present no earthboring attachment has been specifically designed for use in conjunctionwith such loaders. Rather, auger attachments have been designed fortractors having independent power take-off facilities.

of the tractor and the auger. Theseparts include gears and otherelements that are prone to maintenance problems and they also decreasethe efficiency that would be available with direct power transmission tothe auger. Further, utilization of an auger attachment with theindependent power take-off of a tractor requires a high degree ofoperator skill in controlling the auger position and speed. The postholedigger of the instant invention includes selectively usable supportportions for supporting the posthole digger from a plurality ofdifferent types of loader heads. The invention is particularly adaptedfor posthole digging and may be powered by the loader vehicle centralhydraulic system or may be mounted on a loader powered by the hydraulicsystem of a tractor, the attachment being controlled through the valvesof the loader.

The advantages of the present invention over that of the prior art aremany. Initially, it is pointed out that the present attachment iscoupled and uncoupled from a loader vehicle in the same manner as otherattachments and, therefore, no special time-consuming instruction orexpertise is required to connect the attachment to the associatedloader. Further, the manner in which the motorized auger is supportedfrom the existing head of the loader in pendulum-like fashion insuresthat even an unexperienced loader operator may utilize the postholedigger to dig vertical postholes.

Also, because the posthole digger is removably supported from existingheads of loaders, it performs superiorly in hard or frozen soils becauseforced penetration is possible either by the weight of the existing headof the loader as it bears down upon the soil, or by virtue lized topower other tools when operation of the post hole digger is notrequired. Also, because the posthole digger is to be supported from thehead of a loader, the operation of the posthole digger may be constantlyviewed by the operator of the associated loader vehicle, such constantobservation of power take-off driven posthole digging attachments notbeing possible.

In addition, because of the manner in which the posthole digger issupported from the associated motor head in pendulum-type fashion,extremely deep holes may be bored by the utilization of extension shaftsbetween the auger shaft and the powering hydraulic motor of the postholedigger.

The main object of this invention is to provide a posthole digger thatmay be readily supported from different types of heads provided on farmand construction loaders.

Another object of this invention is to provide a posthole diggersupported from the corresponding loader head in a manner such thatvertical positioning of the auger shaft to the posthole digger isassured.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a posthole diggerattachment adapted to be driven from the central hydraulic system of theassociated loader and including a readily removable hydraulic motorwhereby the latter may be removed and utilized to power other tools whendesired.

A final object of this invention to be specifically enumerated herein isto provide a posthole digger which will conform to conventional forms ofmanufacture, be of simple construction and easy to use so as to providea device that will be economically feasible, long lasting and relativelytrouble-free in operation.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the forward portion ofa conventional form of loader with the posthole digger of the instantinvention removably supported from the head of the loader;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the posthole digger with the lower endportion of the auger shaft being broken away;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the posthole digger;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view of the hydraulic motorand hydraulic motor mounting structure of the posthole digger;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical transverse sectional view takensubstantially upon a plane passing through the center of the postholedigger assembly illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of a modified form of posthole diggersupported from an earth bucket head of a loader;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the main support frame of the modifiedform of posthole digger illustrated in FIG. 6;

7 FIG. 8 is a perspective view of one ofthe supporting arms by which themain support frame illustrated in FIG. 7 is supported from the earthbucket fragmentarily illustrated in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of yet another form of support member bywhich the posthole digger may be removably mounted upon a specified typeof loader head.

Referring now more specifically to the drawings, the numeral generallydesignates the posthole digging attachment of the instant inventionwhich is supported from a multi-tine head 12 of a conventional form ofloader vehicle referred to in general by the reference numeral 14. Theloader vehicle 14 includes hydraulic cylinders 16 connected at theirlower ends to the vehicle chassis and at their upper ends to respectivelongitudinal horizontal booms 18 by means of pivot fasteners 20.

The head 12 includes an upstanding frame 22 and horizontally forwardlyprojecting transversely spaced tines 24.

With attention now invited more specifically to FIGS. 2 through '5 ofthe drawings, it may be seen that the posthole digger 10 includes a mainrectangular frame 26 consisting of a pair of opposite side'longitudinalmembers 28 and 30 innerconnected at their forward and rear ends by aforward transverse member 32 and a rear transverse member 34. A pair ofcylindrical mounting tubes 36 extend along beneath and are secured tothe lower marginal portions of the longitudinally members 28 and 30 andthe mounting tubes 36 are removably telescoped over a selected pair ofthe tines 24 and secured in position thereon by means of setscrews 38carried by the rear ends of the mounting tubes 36.

An inner rectangular frame 40 is disposed within the main outer frame 26and includes a pair of opposite side longitudinal members 42 and 44innerconnected at their front and rear ends by means of transverse frontand rear members 46 and 48. The spacing between the remote sides of thetransverse members 46 and 48 is slightly less than the spacing betweenthe adjacent sides of the transverse members 32 and 34 and each pair ofcorresponding transverse members of the frames 26 and 40 are providedwith registered bores through which pivot-fasteners 50 are securedwhereby the inner frame 40 is oscillatably supported within the mainouter frame 26.

The opposite side longitudinal members 42 and 44 of the inner frame 40include upstanding mounting ears 52 and the lower ends ofa pair ofopposite side depending support arms 54 of a mounting frame referred toin general by the reference numeral 56 are pivotally secured to themounting ears 52 by means of pivot fasteners 58. v 1 g I The mountingframe 56 comprises an inverted U- shaped channel member 60 including apair of opposite side depending flanges 62 innerconnected by means of anintegral bight portion 64 extending between the upper marginal edgeportions of the flanges 62. The bight portion 64 has a central opening66 formed therein a pair of spacing blocks 68 are secured to the uppersurface face of one end of the bight portion 64 and are bridged by abridging member 70 to define a horizontally opening pocket 72 beneaththe bridging member 70 and between the spacing blocks 68. In addition,the other end of the bight portion 64 has a mounting block 74 securedthereto on one side and an anchor block 76 provided with a bore 78secured on the other side. A notched latching arm 80 is pivotallysecured to the mounting block 74 and has an aperture 82 formedtherethrough which is registrable with the bore 78 when the latching arm80 is in the horizontal position thereof, illustrated in FIG. 2 of thedrawings, a latching pin (not shown) being provided for insertionthrough the aperture 82 and the bore 78 to releasably retain thelatching arm in the latched horizontal position.

A conventional hydraulic orbit motor 84 is provided and includes anapertured mounting plate 86 through which the output shaft 88 of themotor 84 extends. A mounting plate 90 is provided and suitably aperturedin its four corners as at 92 and suitable fasteners (not shown) areutilized to secure the mounting plate 90 to the plate 86 with thefasteners secured through the apertures 92 and also correspondingapertures 94 formed in the plate 86. The mounting plate 90 includesfront and rear tongues 96 and 98 and the former is receivable in theopening or recess 72 while the latter is receivable beneath the notchedportion of the latching arm 80. In this manner, the motor 84 may besecured to the mounting frame 56.

An auger shaft 100 is provided and disposed in upstanding position. Theupper end of the auger shaft 100 is diametrically r educed and splinedas at 102 and a coupling sleeve 104 internally splined on one end andprovided with a setscrew 106 on its other end is utilized tosupportingly and drivingly couple the output shaft 88 to the auger shaft100.

It may, of course, be noted from FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 of the drawings thatthe auger shaft 100 is thus supported, together with the motor 84, fromthe main outer frame 26 in pendulum fashion whereby the auger shaft 100will be vertically disposed when hanging free. In this manner, the motor84 may be actuated in conjunction with lowering of the head 12 in orderto bore a vertical hole in the ground 110 upon which the loader 14rests.

With attention now invited more specifically to FIGS. 6 through 8 of thedrawings, there may be seen a pair of clamp-type support arm assembliesreferred to in general by the reference numeral 1 12. The support armassemblies 112 each include a pair of elongated horizontal and generallyparallel jaws 114 innerconnected by means of a spacing block 116 attheir base ends and are provided with setscrews 118 at their free ends.The upper arm 114 of each support arm assembly 112 is further providedwith a pair of longitudinally spaced upwardly projecting aperturedmounting lugs 120.

The posthole digger or attachment illustrated in FIG. 6 is referred toin general by the reference numeral 10' and is substantially identicalto the posthole digger 10, except that the main frame 26' thereof isprovided with four vertically short corner sleeve member 27 which may betelescoped downwardly over the apertured mounting ears 120 carried bythe support arm assemblies l 12. Accordingly, after the support armassembles 112 have been secured to the frame 26, they may be clampinglyengaged with an earth bucket 122, such as that illustrated in FIG. 6 ofthe drawings, in lieu of the tines 24 of the head 12. In addition, withattention now invited more specifically to FIG. 9, there may seen asupport assembly referred to in general by the reference numeral 124 andwhich may be utilized to support the frame 26' from the tines 24 of thehead 12 and thus enable the posthole digger 10 to be supported from thehead 12. Of course, the support assembly 24 includes a cylindrical tube126 for telescoping over a selected tine 24 and a setscrew 128 isprovided on each tube 126 and serves the purpose of the setscrews 38.Also, if the tines 24 are other than cylindrical, the crosssectionalshape of the support assembly 124 may be varied accordingly.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An earth boring attachment for a loader vehicle having a lift member,said attachment comprising a first outer frame including mounting meansfor removable support from said lift member, said frame being generallyhorizontal and including opposite side marginal portions, a secondgenerally horizontal inner frame disposed within said outer frame andincluding opposite side portions pivotally supported between saidopposite side marginal portions for angular displacement about firstaligned axes extending between said side portions and side marginalportions, said second frame including a second pair of opposite sideportions disposed in an upstanding plane normal to an upstanding planecontaining said axes, and a mounting frame including depending oppositeside members whose lower end portions are pivotally supported from saidsecond pair of opposite side portions of said second frame for angulardisplacement about second aligned axes extending therebetween, and atorque producer removably supported from an upper portion of saidmounting frame above said first and second aligned axes and including adepending rotary output shaft drivingly coupled to the upper end of anupstanding auger shaft.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said mounting means including apair of parallel tube members fixedly supported from said first frameand adapted to be telescoped over parallel tines carried by said liftmember.

3. The combination of claim 1 wherein said mounting means including apair of parallel tube members to which opposite sides of said firstframe are removably attached and adapted to be telescoped over paralleltines carried by said lift member.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said mounting means including apair of clamp assemblies to which opposite sides of said first frame areremovably attached, said clamp assemblies including clamp portionsadapted to be removably clampingly engaged with an earth bucket carriedby said lift member head.

1. An earth boring attachment for a loader vehicle having a lift member,said attachment comprising a first outer frame including mounting meansfor removable support from said lift member, said frame being generallyhorizontal and including opposite side marginal portions, a secondgenerally horizontal inner frame disposed within said outer frame andincluding opposite side portions pivotally supported between saidopposite side marginal portions for angular displacement about firstaligned axes extending between said side portions and side marginalportions, said second frame including a second pair of opposite sideportions disposed in an upstanding plane normal to an upstanding planecontaining said axes, and a mounting frame including depending oppositeside members whose lower end portions are pivotally supported from saidsecond pair of opposite side portions of said second frame for angulardisplacement about second aligned axes extending therebetween, and atorque producer removably supported from an upper portion of saidmounting frame above said first and second aligned axes and including adepending rotary output shaft drivingly coupled to the upper end of anupstanding auger shaft.
 2. The combination of claim 1 wherein saidmounting means including a pair of parallel tube members fixedlysupported from said first frame and adapted to be telescoped overparallel tines carried by said lift member.
 3. The combination of claim1 wherein said mounting means including a pair of parallel tube membersto which opposite sides of said first frame are removably attached andadapted to be telescoped over parallel tines carried by said liftmember.
 4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said mounting meansincluding a pair of clamp assemblies to which opposite sides of saidfirst frame are removably attached, said clamp assemblies includingclamp portions adapted to be removably clampingly engaged with an earthbucket carried by said lift member head.